


Sleepless

by KristannaFever



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Kristanna, Modern AU, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2021-01-31 01:17:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 23,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21437809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KristannaFever/pseuds/KristannaFever
Relationships: Anna & Kristoff (Disney), Anna/Kristoff (Disney)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 49





	1. Chapter 1

The street was always the quietest at three in the morning. It was when there was virtually nothing happening, except for Kristoff’s constant vigil from the sofa chair in his darkened living room. 

He had lost count of how many nights it was in which he was unable to sleep. It seemed like it had started so long ago that he no longer knew a life other than carrying the weight of exhaustion with him wherever he went. He wasn’t his true self, hadn’t been for a long time.

It was the same every night. He would go to sleep around ten, hoping and praying that it would be the night he finally broke the curse that seemed to have befallen him. Then around two in the morning, every morning, his eyes sprang open and was unable to sleep another wink despite how tired he was.

Every night.  
Every _fucking_ night.

Some days he was so tired when he got home from work, that he’d stagger over to the couch and pass out for twenty minutes or so. But he’d always wake before getting any good amount of rest and he actually felt worse than before. He couldn’t understand how he always seemed to wake up more tired from a nap. How the small amount of compensation for the disaster of nighttime, did nothing but seem to do more damage.

His attempt to go to sleep at an earlier time had simply left him staring at his ceiling for countless hours, listening to the world outside while light still streamed in through his curtains. As many times as he tried it, he always seemed to finally reach sleep when the clock was hovering around ten.

He tried staying up until midnight once in hopes that he’d be too tired to wake up at his usual time. His disappointment, and how disastrous he felt when he woke up at 2:13 that morning completely unable to get back to sleep, made him feel utterly hopeless.

Night after night, day after day, there was no change. Weekends were no exception. The only solace then was that he didn’t have to drag his zombie ass to work. He would sit on his couch and watch mindless television and contemplate his options.

He tired everything under the sun to try and break the curse. He tried warm milk before bed, he tried chamomile tea, he tried not eating after eight, not eating at all, eating a ton and filling his stomach in hopes to make him sleepy enough. None of that worked.

He tired counting sheep, reading, going for a quick walk, meditation, imagination - which he discovered he was severely lacking - changing his pillow, replacing his mattress and bedding, seeing a professional for help, smoking weed, herbal medicine and natural remedies. Nothing. He still woke up around two in the morning. 

The witching hour as he came to think of it.

He tried sleep studies. They said they had no idea why he couldn’t sleep. He got several physicals. Except for the fact that he felt tired all the time, he was fit as a fiddle. He tired three different shrinks who seemed equally stumped by his predicament. He tried sleeping aids. When he woke up at two feeling like he was having an out of body experience, he vowed never to take drugs to try and sleep ever again.

Pacing his house didn’t work, watching television didn’t work, the white noise machine didn’t work, a quiet radio didn’t work. Neither did the ear plugs and the sleep mask, or the window open, or closed. Going on a diet did nothing. Trying to calm himself with creativity like painting did nothing. Masturbating did nothing.

He got himself drunk once in a desperate attempt to pass out and not wake up until the late morning. He passed out alright, until his eyes sprung open at 2:00 on the dot and he had to get up, dizzy and feeling sick to his stomach because he couldn’t stand to be laying down anymore with the room spinning about him. He retched in the toilet and sat in the chair in his living room until his boss was awake and he called in sick. He was unable to nap, despite feeling the worst he’d ever felt in his entire life, and that included when he got sick with a violet stomach flu a couple months prior.

This morning was like any other. He lay in bed for twenty minutes or so, then he would get up and get dressed for work. He began to hate too much noise when he was tired, so he sat in his chair and watched the street in the quiet darkness of his house.

The occasional car would pass. Sometimes he’d see a cop car drive by. Often there were Cabs. Sometimes there was someone walking in the middle of the night, but it was rare. Then at three in the morning the world stopped. Nothing happened out his window for an entire hour, until he watched the world wake up and desperately wished that he was waking up with them.

Mr. Douglas would walk by first with his little beagle. Ever since his wife passed away and he got himself a dog, he was out there every morning at 4:00, rain or shine with a smile on his face, happy to walk his furry companion.

The first bus of the day would rumble past shortly after. Kristoff would be on one later when it was time for him to go to work. He decided a long time ago that he was too dangerous behind the wheel. He had dozed off one night, startled awake only because the truck bounced off the curb, jarring him into consciousness. Ten seconds later he had to slam on the breaks to prevent hitting someone in a crosswalk. It scared him so much that he decided that he’d never drive again.

After the first bus, he’d see a young couple jog by. He assumed they lived the next block over because he never saw them any other time during the day, but they ran past his house every morning. 

Then more cars would drive by, more people walking. The college kids who rented the house next to him would pile into an old van and head to school. The sky got lighter, the world woke up, and Kristoff watched it, day after day.

Today however, there was something different.

His new neighbor, the one right across the street from him, was just pulling into the driveway as the clock read five thirty.

He recalled seeing a moving van on Saturday, then lights on in the house when he was awake at three on Sunday morning. Other than that, he had not had a glimpse of his new neighbor. Until now.

She got out of her car, dressed in blue scrubs and stretched her back. She was tiny - short and petite, and she wore her copper hair in braids that hung down her shoulders. She walked around to the passenger door of her car and opened it to grab a backpack. Then she walked slowly up to her house and went inside. 

That was it.

Kristoff sighed and lifted himself from the chair. Time to eat breakfast and get a move on. He didn’t have to catch the bus for another two hours, but even simple things like making himself toast and packing a lunch seemed to take an extremely long amount of time. He supposed if he had a more labour-intensive job he would probably have been fired already. He just didn’t have any pep in his step anymore and he was becoming genuinely terrified that it would never come back.


	2. Chapter 2

Kristoff turned off the tv at nine and got up to head to bed. 

He knew he’d lay there for a while waiting to fall asleep, but he just didn’t have the energy to deal with life anymore. _For today_, he told himself. He needed to tell himself that every day, just so that his mind wouldn’t ever go _there_. He refused to acknowledge that it was getting harder and harder.

He happened to glance out his window to see his new neighbor heading down the walk to her car. She looked energetic and happy, dressed in a pink pair of scrubs this time. She was smiling as she threw her backpack on her passenger seat and hopped behind the wheel. He assumed he’d see some break lights and she would back out onto the street and drive off, but the car never moved.

It took a minute, as Kristoff watched with curiosity wondering why she was just sitting in her car. He walked to the window to get a better look at what she might be doing. She hopped out of her car a second later and walked to the front and opened the hood, blocking her from his view. It didn’t take long before she was sliding back in the car again, trying to start it. Kristoff could see that it wasn’t working. The car was showing no signs of life. The woman got out of the car again and looked at it, shaking her head, clearly unsure of what was wrong.

Before he even knew what the fuck he was doing, Kristoff was sliding on his shoes and walking across the street.

As soon as she looked over at his approach, he regretted his decision. That was until she smiled at him and said “Hello.”

“Hi,” he said, stopping a few feet away from her. “I’m your neighbor, just across,” Kristoff jerked his thumb over his shoulder at his own house. “Noticed you were having car trouble. Want me to take a quick look?”

Her eyes, bright and blue and beautiful, lit up like the sun. “Oh, would you? Thank you so much! I have to head to work and I have no idea what is wrong with this thing.”

Kristoff nodded, offering a smile so she wouldn’t feel uncomfortable and approached to peek under the hood. “Does it give you anything when you try and start it?”

“No, nothing. It’s completely dead.”

“Do you have a flashlight?” he asked, looking up, a little startled to find her standing _right _beside him.

“Oh, for sure. One sec,” she disappeared into her car and came back a couple seconds later with a small mag light. Kristoff always admired people who were prepared. Having a flashlight in one’s vehicle was essential.

He shone the light around. It was either a dead battery or an alternator issue. “Did you maybe leave your lights on?”

“No, the car dings at me if I leave my headlights on and I never use my dome lights because I know I will forget to turn them off. I use my phone flashlight if I need to see something.”

Kristoff nodded, shining the light over to her alternator. The first thing he noticed was that the belt was gone.

“The belt on your alternator must have broken,” he said, straightening back up and looking down at her as he handed her back the flashlight. “It was probably worn out and came off.”

“I thought I heard something weird while I was driving the other night.”

“You’ll have to get a new belt or your car won’t charge the battery.”

“Oh,” she said, quietly, sounding disappointed. Then she suddenly smiled, very genuinely. “Well thank you so much for your help. I really appreciate it.”

He could see in her eyes that she was worried. Maybe she needed help in getting the part? 

“Parts stores won’t be open until tomorrow, but I could help you order the right belt, if you want.”

“Oh, that’s very nice, thank you,” she said, still seeming to be distracted by something.

Kristoff was about to open his mouth when she spoke again, pulling her phone out of her pocket to check the time.

“Do you know the bus route I would need to take to get to the animal hospital on Oak Street and Thirtieth Ave?”

All of the sudden he remembered that she was heading to work. How could he be so stupid? She even told him that and here she was looking at a car that wouldn’t run, wondering how she was going to get there. She looked up at him expectantly and he realized he hadn’t answered her yet.

“Oh, uh, the five I think? But you need to get off. Then you take, um, I don’t…” he shook his head. His mind was just too tired to think properly. He scrubbed his hands painfully down his face. “I take the bus myself, but I don’t have to get off so I have no idea which one you’d have to get on after, I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay, I can figure it out,” she offered with a smile, looking at him very closely. “Or maybe I’ll just call a cab.”

Her scrutiny made him uncomfortable. His mind ran away on its own, thinking about anything to say so that she would stop studying him. The first thing that popped up was how he was still paying for his truck to be registered and insured even though he didn’t drive it – as a last desperate thought that something would change eventually and he could drive it again. Fitting, he supposed, given her predicament. Might as well get some sort of use out of that colossal waste of money. 

“You can take my truck,” he said, before he could think better of it.

“Oh, I don’t want to impose,” she said, even though her eyes slid past him to glance at it.

“Well it’ll just be sitting there in my driveway all night. You’re more than welcome. I mean, I know where you live if you decide to steal it.”

She smiled, very wide, showing her teeth. Her eyes shimmered with humor even though she didn’t laugh. “Okay then. As long as you won’t need it?”

“Nope.”

“Right, I guess you’ll be just be sleeping all night anyway.”

He paused, ever so briefly before he said “Right” in return. He knew it did not go unnoticed by the slight narrowing of her eyes.

“I get home around five thirty. Can I just knock on your door to give you back your keys?”

“Sure, I’m an early riser.” It felt like a lie, even though technically it wasn’t.

“Well, thank you so much. For everything,” she said as she shut her hood and grabbed her bag to follow Kristoff across the street.

“No problem,” Kristoff offered. “That’s what neighbors are for, right?”

*****

**2:05 a.m.**

Kristoff’s eyes opened and he looked at the clock. He was not disappointed or upset. He couldn’t bring himself to feel that way anymore. The effort it took to get worked up was wasted. He just felt dead inside.

He got out of bed right away, not wanting to stare at the ceiling this morning. He took his time getting ready, brushing and flossing twice for lack of something better to do, pacing his house for a bit since he felt restless, then finally settling himself in his familiar position in his chair to stare out the window.

Mr. Douglas walked by.

The first bus rumbled past.

The young couple jogged along with happy smiles on their damn faces.

Kristoff realized that the clock was nearing when his neighbor – Anna, he had learned – was going to drop off his truck. He certainly didn’t want to seem like a creep, sitting in the dark and waiting for her. He closed his living room curtains and turned on the light. It was a weird change of pace.

He went to the front door and turned on the porch light too, just so that she would know he was definitely awake, before he got himself a cup of coffee from the kitchen. He was just about to take the first sip when there was a quiet knock on his door.

Anna smiled at him when he opened it.

“Here you are,” she said, holding out his keys. “I wasn’t even late for work!”

“That’s good,” Kristoff mumbled, stuffing his keys in his jeans pocket.

“What time do you head off to work?”

Kristoff blinked at her, curious as to why she wanted to know. “I catch the bus just after seven.”

“Well that give us plenty of time! Can I take you out for Breakfast? I want to thank you for letting me use your truck.”

“Oh, that’s okay. And no worries. You can borrow it anytime.”

“Please? I would really like to thank you properly.”

“Honestly, it’s fine. Plus you just got off work, I am sure you are tired-“

“Nope! Not tired! I’m never tired when I get off work. I’m usually awake for hours trying to wind down, you know?”

Kristoff opened his mouth to decline again, but she was immediately talking again.

“Pretty please? I was really looking forward to breakfast. I thought about it all shift.”

He was flabbergasted. What was he going to say? It was too much all of the sudden and his tired mind struggled to think of a way to get out of it.

Her smile was fading and she was tilting her head to the side, looking at him carefully like she was trying to see into his soul.

He panicked. “Sure,” came out of his mouth before he was even aware that he was even talking.

Her eyes lit up again in that inexplicably bright way. “Alright! If you’re ready, we can head out right away.”

Kristoff nodded and went to grab his wallet from the kitchen counter as Anna headed outside. He stepped out into the crisp early morning air and locked his door, dreading what this breakfast experience was going to be like. When he turned around, Anna was standing expectantly beside the passenger side of his truck.

He paused, not sure what to do.

She was looking at him closely again. Why was she always looking at him like that? He kicked himself in gear and walked slowly to the front of his truck. 

He hesitated, chewing on his lip, not sure how to explain, so he told her the truth.

“I uh, don’t drive,” he said and held out his keys.

She looked from his eyes, to his hand and back up to his face again. She nodded an understanding and Kristoff had to wonder what kind of conclusion she’d come up with in her mind. He told her he took the bus, he had a perfectly fine truck to drive, yet he wouldn’t get behind the wheel. She probably thought he had a DUI or something.

She said nothing as she took the keys that were offered to her and went to the driver’s side of his truck. He hopped in his own passenger seat, trying not to think about how fucking weird it was.

It was a quick five-minute drive and they were soon pulling up to _Phil’s Diner_. They went inside, sat themselves at a booth by the window and both ordered a coffee and water when the waitress greeted them as she dropped menus on the table.

Kristoff had no fucking idea what to say. He followed her lead and picked up the menu when she did. He didn’t know what to get. He hadn’t been out for a meal in…in…

_No, it couldn’t have been that long… could it?_

“Ooh, I am so all over this stack of pancakes with strawberries and whip cream! Yum!” She put the menu down in front of her. “What are you going to get Christopher?”

“Kristoff,” he said, surprised to find his voice barely above a whisper. He cleared this throat quietly knowing he needed to talk louder and stop acting so damn awkward.

“Oh God, I am so sorry, Kristoff! I apologize! That it very rude of me to get your name wrong after how nice you’ve been. I must have been in my own little world before work,” she shook her head at herself.

“No worries, it’s fine. Understandable with car troubles when you have somewhere to get to and all.”

“And isn’t that always when it seems to happen? Can’t happen when I’m headed somewhere on the weekend. Can’t happen when I’m coming home. Has to be when I’m off for work, trying to make me late,” she laughed.

Kristoff smiled. Her laugh was very pretty. Just like her eyes.

“So, Kristoff,” she smiled back at him. “What are you going get?”

“Um,” he looked back down at the menu. He had been having toast every morning for so long that he had pretty much forgotten what he used to like to eat for breakfast. Nothing too rich, or he’d probably throw up. That meant no Eggs Benedict. French toast and pancakes were too sweet. A scrambler sounded like heartburn…

“I think I just want the classic. Bacon, eggs and toast.”

“Simple man,” Anna said, leaning back in the booth. “I like that.”

Kristoff felt an unfamiliar burning in his cheeks and he realized all of the sudden he was blushing. That made him even more embarrassed. Thank God the waitress came when she did and he was spared having to fumble out a response.

They both ordered and Anna fell into a new conversation like it was the easiest thing in the world. She told him that she worked the night shift at the animal hospital on Oak street. She also informed him that she was hoping to get a day shift position soon. She explained she had been working the night shift for almost a year and confessed she was tired of trying to sleep during the day with all the noise and constant interruption. Kristoff wanted to tell her that he fully understood, but he said nothing.

He managed to remain relatively quiet until she asked him what he did for a living. He told her the basic truth that was his life. He worked on a maintenance crew for a group of high-rise buildings owned by the Rockfield Group downtown. Fixing boilers, air handling units and looking after all the intricate, complicated maintenance systems that these buildings needed to run. Despite how boring he felt he was when he was talking, Anna seemed to be hanging on his every word.

She moved the conversation along, talking while they ate about simple things like the neighborhood, movies and books, and Kristoff’s most cringe worthy topic, the weather. He knew full well it was his own fault. He wasn’t giving her much in the whole ‘talking’ department and she was just trying to fill the silence with prattle. He wished for the millionth time that he wasn’t so tired. Maybe then he could find something intelligent to talk about.

She paid for breakfast, even though Kristoff offered to get it, then she drove them back to his house and thanked him once again for the use of his truck.

“No problem, please,” he said, wishing she’d stop thanking him already. “And I will order that belt for you today. If they don’t have it in stock, you can just borrow my truck again.”

She smiled then leaned forward and hugged him.

He was frozen. He held his breath, unable to move, until she finally let him go. His eyes were wide at the awkwardness of it – and to be honest, her directness – yet she seemed not to be bothered by his reaction, or lack thereof. 

“Have a good day at work, Kristoff. I’ll see you after, okay?”

He nodded, unable to make himself talk as she walked across the street back to her own house.


	3. Chapter 3

For the first time in such a long time, Kristoff had something else on his mind besides his crushing exhaustion. 

He liked the sense of purpose he suddenly had, trying to track down an alternator belt for his neighbor. The parts place downtown that he used to get his own parts from didn’t have it, as he somewhat suspected, but they ordered it for him and it would be in by the end of the week. He picked Anna up a new battery too, noticing when he peeked under her hood that hers was old and badly corroded. He sat with the heavy thing between his feet on the bus on the way home, thinking about how nice it was going to be to get his tools under a hood again, even if it was just simple maintenance work.

He flicked on the tv when he got in the door and grabbed himself a beer from the back of the top shelf of his fridge. He hardly never drank anymore, worried about adding to his depression, but he actually had a good day. He smiled a little today. He thought of other things besides his problems today, and he felt a semblance of the happiness he used to know.

Anna knocked on his door at seven that evening as promised. Kristoff invited her in without forethought and explained the belt was on order and that he got her a battery and offered to put it in for her. She smiled and thanked him, offering to pay him for it, even though it didn’t even cross his radar to think that she would probably want to pay him back.

Her eyes, though. Her eyes did not hold the brightness he hoped he’d see in them. She was looking at him very closely instead, like she was trying to read his intentions, perhaps suddenly worried what they might be.

Maybe he was creeping her out? Was it too presumptuous to just assume she’d want to replace her car battery? Maybe she couldn’t afford it? Or Maybe she was having second thoughts about taking the offer of using his truck? Did she regret that he walked over to help her in the first place?

The crushing weight of his exhaustion suddenly fell upon him and his shoulders slumped involuntarily.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Anna said, eyes wandering over his posture. “You’re tired. I should head home. Have to get ready for work anyway,” she was already putting on her coat.

Kristoff chided himself silently for his rudeness. He hated himself. Still, he had to make it right.

“You can still borrow my truck until the belt comes in,” he said quietly, following her to the door.

“Okay, thank you,” she said, taking the keys as soon as he held them out for her. She nodded her gratitude, opened the door and stepped outside.

Kristoff moved forward to shut the door when she turned around. 

“Would you like to go for breakfast again when I get off? I really want to try the French Toast. Breakfast is my absolute favorite meal, even if its technically my dinner.”

He was about to politely decline this time when she spoke again.

“Plus, I really liked talking to you this morning,” she smiled. “I’d like the chance to get to know you better.”

“Okay,” he said slowly, wondering what the feeling bubbling up inside of him was. “Sounds good.”

Her eyes suddenly lit up for him the way he had been expecting they would. He realized just how much he was looking forward to actually seeing her that way. And now that he was looking into those sparkling blue eyes… well, he recognized what that damn thing inside of him that was trying to get out was. 

It was hope.

*****

**2:14 a.m.**

Kristoff rolled over and started at the ceiling for a moment before getting up and repeating the actions of the previous morning. He turned on the tv to hear the News while he waited for Anna, slowly pacing around his living room, not listening to the broadcasters.

When she knocked on his door with a big smile, Kristoff was ready. He followed her to his truck and hopped into the passenger seat without a word.

Anna started to tell him about her work shift as they drove over. Kristoff had to admire her enthusiasm. She explained how boring it could be at night sometimes and she hoped that she could get that day shift soon.

They walked into the diner, Anna still bending his ear, and took the same seat as last time. Anna ordered French toast with powdered sugar and syrup. Kristoff ordered bacon, eggs and toast.

Anna made him tell her about his day when she was done talking about hers. There wasn’t much to say. Kristoff told her that they found a leak on a boiler line and they had to scramble to fix it. He also told her about going to order her car part and then about the new guy they hired on the job who was full of jokes. His name was Sven, Kristoff explained, and he made the whole crew laugh all day.

They talked about other personal things, where they grew up, briefly touching on their childhoods, where they went to high school, first job, first kiss, things like that. Before Kristoff knew it, it was time he had to get to work and Anna paid for the breakfast again despite his insistence that it was his turn. Then she drove him back to his house and chatted with him, standing on the sidewalk, until his bus came.

He left with a wave and a promise to come over when he was off work and put in her battery. She told him she was going to make a casserole and that he could come in for dinner when he was done before she headed off to work, as she waved back with a smile.

\-------

“There you go,” he said, wiping his greasy hands on a rag before he shut her hood. “And as soon as the belt comes in, I’ll throw that on and you should be good to go again.”

“Thank you, Kristoff!” She said, throwing her arms around him for another surprise hug. He ignored what her body felt like pushed up against his and managed to move one arm this time, gently patting her on the back a few times before she pulled away.

“I hope you like lasagna. I made a huge batch and I am famished. Come on!”

He followed her into her house, unsure what to expect. There were a few boxes still packed up, but for the most part she had everything placed. Her space was warm and inviting. She seemed to favor earth tones with pops of colour here and there, and her style was rustic, rather than contemporary. It also smelled absolutely divine with her lasagna cooking in the oven. He inhaled deeply the smell of the meal she prepared and instantly started salivating. It was going to be a real treat to have lasagna for dinner instead of the meager microwave meals he usually heated up for himself.

He helped Anna set the table as she talked on and on about everything under the sun. She even talked about the sun, when she babbled that she could not wait for the summer weather to arrive.

The lasagna was the most delicious thing Kristoff had ever tasted. It was so good, that he had a hard time actually concentrating on the conversation while he ate it. He had a second helping then mentally talked himself out of a third since he was the fullest he’d ever been in his life. He couldn’t remember a time that he had a meal so good.

Anna gave him another hug when it was time for him to leave and he gave her the keys to his truck again, wondering why she even bothered giving them back. He told her just to hang onto them until he could finish fixing her car. She smiled, thanked him for the hundredth time, then he went home.

He went to bed that night after watching Anna pull away for work at nine. It was just a tad earlier than his usual bedtime, but he managed to fall asleep without too much effort.

*****

**2:25 a.m.**

Kristoff woke with a start, gripping his chest from the nightmare, disoriented, panting, terrified…

“Jesus,” he muttered, trying to regain his composure. It took a second for him to realize that he was shaking. The demons that had been hunting him seem to fade as fast as they had appeared.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed, balling the covers on either side of him into his fists, trying to get a grip on himself. When was the last time he had a nightmare? When was the last time he had had a dream for that matter? 

He glanced at the clock, trying to calm himself. He sighed, shaking his head and taking a deep, steadying breath. He got up after he thought he’d be able to support his weight on his shaky legs, then went to the bathroom. He needed something to shake the feeling that lingered, so he turned on the shower and got in right away.

The cold water was the shock to his system that he needed. He pulled in a deep breath. As soon as he let his skin get accustomed, it actually felt good. He relished in the cool until it started to warm up. As it started to get hot, his entire body relaxed and he could feel his tense muscles start to loosen.

He let the water run all over his head, plastering his hair over his eyes, while his mind started to wander. The first thing he thought of was a pair of blue eyes that brought a smile to his face. He loved the brightness he saw in them, they way they actually seemed to light up when she was excited. And when she was excited, she was smiling, and he really liked it when she was smiling. He thought about that smile, about her soft, pink lips. His mind moved down to the curves of her femininity, how cute her figure looked when she was dressed in her scrubs for work. Then there was that V-neck sweater she was wearing as they ate her lasagna dinner. When she had leaned over to serve him a piece, he had unintentionally caught a view of her black bra and the top of her beautifully rounded breasts…

His eyes sprang open, realizing that he had a raging hard-on. He didn’t even want to think about how long it had been since he’d been aroused. He looked down helplessly at his hard cock, twitching out in front of him, begging for release.

He sighed. There was no way this was going to go away without giving in. He reached down and ran his palm over himself, feeling awkward and foreign due to the length of time it had been since he’d last touched himself. He wrapped his fingers gently around his cock and started with slow strokes.

He had to brace himself, putting his free hand on the wall of the shower at the sensation. It felt good. It felt _so_ good. He imagined that he was pushing into his beautiful neighbor instead of his own hand and his release came quickly. He grunted, his leg muscles tightening, keeping him standing as his cock pulsed in his palm.

He opened his eyes after a minute, feeling really weird about everything and finished his shower quickly. 

In the living room he turned on the news again and waited. Anna knocked on his door and he opened it with a smile.

“Come on!” She said, not waiting for him as she trotted down the steps to where his truck was still running. “I’m starving.”


	4. Chapter 4

**2:09 a.m.**

Kristoff’s phone woke him. He looked around, wondering what the hell the noise was for a second before he realized what was happening.

He scrambled to grab it from the nightstand, wondering who in the hell would be calling him.

“Hello?” he mumbled, voice thick with sleep.

“Kristoff! It’s Anna!”

“What’s wrong?” he bolted upright at the panic in her voice.

“Water! There’s water everywhere! My dishwasher, or something, I don’t know! My whole kitchen is flooded and I don’t know what to do!”

“I’ll be over in a sec,” he said and hung up the phone. He scrambled into jeans and a t-shirt that were laying on the floor then went to the front to slip on shoes. He jogged across the street to Anna’s house where she was waiting with the door open.

“I’m so sorry, Kristoff, but I have no idea what to do and it’s gushing, and oh my God, it’s such a mess-”

Kristoff went past her and straight into the kitchen. Sure enough, there was water pouring out from the sides of her dishwasher at the bottom. He jogged over to her inside garage door and pulled it open, fumbling for the light switch. He went quickly to the mechanical room as soon as the space flooded with light, then he located the red lever for the main shut off and immediately turned it.

He turned around to go check on the dishwasher when he bumped right into Anna. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!”

“No, no, I’m sorry, I should have let you know I was right behind you!”

They looked at each other a second with wild apology and awkwardness in their eyes before they seemed to realize they must look like idiots. They smiled and chuckled at themselves in unison.

“Well, for next time,” Kristoff said, turning his body to show Anna, “here is the main shut off valve.” He pointed to the red handled lever he had turned.

“Oh, okay. So, if there’s a leak or something I should turn that off first?”

“Exactly. It’s the main water line for the entire house. If water is gushing, always shut it off first.”

“That’s really good to know. Thank you, Kristoff.” 

She smiled with her bright eyes and Kristoff tired not to think about how he’d pleasured himself the other morning to the thought of making love to her.

He cleared his throat. “Lets, uh, look at that dishwasher.”

She nodded and followed him inside. There was a good half inch of water all over her kitchen floor and it was soaking into the carpet in the living room and down the hallway. Kristoff opened the dishwasher and a small gush of water came out. The bottom of the unit was full to the brim.

“Well, I thought at first that it was probably the hose that burst, but it looks like there’s something wrong with the actual dishwasher itself.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he said, leaning in to take a look. “I mean, I don’t know much about appliances, but there should have been something in here to tell the thing to drain and not keep filling. It looks like that never happened.”

“And the water just didn’t stop.”

Kristoff nodded his head in agreement, straightening up. “I’ll pull it out and turn off the valve for your dishwasher so we can turn the main valve back on, but you’ll have to call an appliance repair company to take a look.”

“Okay, thank you Kristoff,” Anna said with a smile before looking down at the accumulation of water on her floor.

“You got a shop vac?” Kristoff asked. There was no way he was going to leave Anna to clean the mess all alone.

“A what?”

“Oh, uh, a wet-dry vac?”

“Um, I have my Dyson.”

Kristoff smiled. “Don’t worry, I have one in my garage. I’ll be right back.”

He walked over to his house and grabbed the unit from his garage. He carried it back over to Anna’s and set it down in the kitchen.

“Oh, I see then. A heavy-duty vacuum, huh?”

“Yup,” he said handing her the cord. “Can you please plug this in for me?”

“Of course.”

Anna plugged the vacuum in and Kristoff started sucking up the water. It didn’t take long to fill, then he had to muscle the thing outside and dump it in the far corner of the lawn. Anna had grabbed her mop and was helping get the water out of the kitchen. Kristoff carried the empty vacuum back in and started to continue to suck up more water.

It took a couple more loads before he moved to the carpet, getting out as much as he could. 

“Do you have any fans? Like, oscillating fans?” He asked when he was done vacuuming.

“I have one, yeah.”

“Okay, I am going to pull up the carpet and peel it back so we can dry out the underlay. That was a lot of water and you want to make sure it dries all the way through, otherwise you could get mold.”

“Okay,” she said, suddenly seeming overwhelmed. 

“It’s not a huge deal, okay. It’ll dry. Plus, I have a heavy-duty fan in my garage that will help. I’ll run over and get-”

She flung herself into his arms and pushed her lips against his cheek. “Thank you, Kristoff. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

His heart started to hammer in his chest as his mind started going a million places at once. He managed to find some sense through it all and wrapped his arms around her as she tightened her embrace. Then just as quick as she did so, she was pulling away, muttering something about looking for her fan.

Kristoff went back to his house in a daze. He bent down to grab the big unit fan in his garage and realized his hands were shaking. He paused, balling his hands into tight fists, trying to squeeze out the tension. 

What the hell was happing to him? What was she doing to him? He had a feeling he knew but it seemed too scary a thing to think about. He shook his hands violently, hoping to loosen the jitteriness before grabbing the fan and going back to Anna’s.

Kristoff pulled back the carpet as Anna fluttered around her kitchen, trying to help in any way she could.

When it was done and the fans were finally running, Kristoff opened the dishwasher and sucked all the water out. With it empty, he unscrewed the unit from the underside of the counter then used his wrench to lift the legs to get it out. From there it was easy to reach behind and turn the valve on the water line to that the dishwasher could be isolated.

Afterwards, Kristoff pushed the dishwasher back and cleaned up the remaining mess that pulling it out had made. With all the work done until Anna could have the dishwasher fixed, Kristoff looked at his phone for the time. He needed to catch his bus in forty minutes.

“Oh, I am so sorry, Kristoff. You have to go to work and I woke you up at two in the morning!”

“Ah, it’s okay,” Kristoff waved his hand, “I’m always awake by that time anyway.”

Her eyes narrowed a little and he realized what he just let slip. How could he be so stupid! So thoughtless! So dumb! Damn his stupid brain. Damnit that he couldn’t sleep. Damnit that he couldn’t think straight anymore. Damn his whole miserable life.

“You don’t sleep very well, do you?” she asked quietly.

He startled, staring back at her, not knowing what to say. How did she… how could she… how was she so preceptive? He opened his mouth to ask yet no words came out.

“You just look tired,” she said with a tiny shrug as her gaze moved to the floor. “It was the first thing I noticed when I first met you.”

“How?” he asked, needing to know.

“It’s in your eyes,” she said, almost whispering, not meeting his gaze. “They look… tired.” 

He had no idea what to say. He felt lost all of the sudden. He felt like he wasn’t really even there, that there was someone else in control of his body and he was just a bystander, watching helplessly as the train wreck that was his life played out in front of him.

Anna brought her eyes up to his, studying him. Then she did something he did not expect. 

She walked up to him and grabbed his hands in hers. “I hope you can find rest soon, Kristoff. And I hope you know that if you need to talk to someone about anything, anything at all, I am here to listen.”

Kristoff nodded, gulping at the painful lump in his throat and blinking away the burning in the back of his eyes. He had cried himself to sleep many nights knowing that he was not going to wake up well-rested. Anna’s care and concern over him brought all of that pain back in an instant.

He willed it away. As hard as it was, he shut down his emotion and offered her what felt like the worlds most pathetic attempt at a smile.

He pulled his hands from hers. “I have to go to work now.”

“Okay,” she said, following him to the door. “And thank you again.”

_Please stop thanking me._ “Have a good… sleep, I guess.”

“Sorry we couldn’t do breakfast today. I was especially looking forward to it since it was my day off and having breakfast for dinner is my favourite thing. Oh well. Are you available if we go tomorrow?”

It suddenly clicked in Kristoff’s mind that normally she’d be working. She had even mentioned her days off when he was there just the other night at dinner. He was so tired he must have forgotten. Truthfully, the only thing he had been thinking about was when she would be knocking on his door at five thirty every morning to take him to breakfast.

“Sure,” Kristoff nodded, “I’ll stop by after work and see how your carpet is doing. I’ll put it back for you if it’s dry.”

“Thank you, Kristoff. Thank you, so much.”

He really needed her to stop thanking him. He nodded again and mumbled “no problem”, then left quickly. If she was going to keep looking at him like that with her beautiful, caring eyes, he was going to burst into tears.

\-------

He was aware of his heartbeat when he knocked on her door after work. He expected her to greet him with her usual smile and her bright eyes. What he did not expect to see was the grim expression on Anna’s face.

“You okay?” Kristoff asked, alarmed.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Just… ah, it’s nothing. Come on in.”

He stepped into her house and shut the door behind him, but he didn’t make a move to remove his shoes. He needed to know what was wrong. 

“What is it Anna? You can tell me. Maybe I can help?”

“That’s the problem!” she threw her hands up in the air. “I feel like all you’ve been doing is helping me! I feel pathetic!”

“You are not pathetic,” he said firmly.

“Well, I feel that way! And you’re probably wishing you had a different neighbor and-”

“Anna!” 

She startled at his tone, looking at him with wide eyes.

“Sorry,” he said, softer but still very serious. “You are not bothering me at all. In fact, I have enjoyed helping you out with a few things and I’ve barely even done anything, really. Anything you need, Anna, anything at all, I am here.”

She blinked then her body relaxed. “I just don’t think I can sleep with the sound of those fans,” she said, slumping her shoulders. “I hardly got any sleep today and I’m dead on my feet. I just checked and the underlay is still damp so I know we have to keep them running a bit longer, but it’s just so loud. And I know that… I shouldn’t, you know, complain… because really, it’s nothing… it’s just-”

“Anna,” Kristoff stopped her. He was appreciative of the fact that she cared about his own lack of sleep now she was aware of it. The last thing he wanted to do right then however, was talk about it, and there was no reason for her to feel like she should have to dance around her words. Instead, he knew how he could help her. “Listen, I have a bed, I have clean sheets, and I have a really comfortable couch I can sleep on,” Kristoff smiled. “Why don’t you just grab some of your things and you can just sleep at my place, okay?”

“I’ll take the couch.”

“Absolutely not. You get the bed.”

Her bottom lip started to quiver and all of the sudden she was tearing up and pushing herself against his chest. “Oh Kristoff, you are too kind, do you know that?”

He gulped, wrapping his arms gently around her, not sure what else to do. He knew she was just over-tired and emotional because of it. A small part of his mind tried to whisper that maybe it meant something more. He shut it up immediately. 

“I can’t believe all you’ve been doing for me. You are an absolute angel.”

“Anna, it’s nothing,” he started, then fell quiet. The truth was that it wasn’t nothing to him. To him, it had become everything. It was something to actually keep a smile on his face, something to focus on besides his worries. Not only that, he relished the way her eyes lit up when she smiled. He loved it, in fact.

She regained her composure against him a moment before finally releasing her grip. She looked up at him, eyes still glassy and tired.

“We don’t have to go for breakfast tomorrow either,” Kristoff offered. “You just sleep as long as you need, okay?”

She nodded, eyes welling up again.

“Hey, don’t cry. Just go and grab whatever you need and we’ll go to my place.”

“Okay,” she whispered, “And tha-”

“Anna, please, don’t thank me. You’ve thanked me enough to last a lifetime. It’s my pleasure.”

She smiled at him, slow and special, then nodded her thanks instead before going to fetch her stuff. Kristoff let out a shaky breath, wondering if this was such a good idea to start letting himself get so close to her. What if he ended up dragging her down into his hell? 

He would never forgive himself.


	5. Chapter 5

**2:15 a.m.**

When Kristoff woke on his couch, he wondered if Anna had gone back to her place it was so quiet. He crept down the hall, curious, and peeked in his room to see the top of her head poking out from the covers. It put an instant smile on his face. 

_God, I love seeing you in my bed…  
Shut up! Don’t go there! This is a one-time thing and you are not going to ruin her life too._

He sighed and snuck quietly back down the hall. He laid back down on the couch even though he knew he was finished with sleep for the night. He didn’t want to make too much noise so that Anna could keep sleeping, and he didn’t want her to wake and find him sitting in his chair staring at the street, worried that would seriously creep her out.

He laid there staring at the ceiling for a long time, mulling over his life since Anna had come into it, then somehow, he succumbed to his exhaustion.

He dreamt only of Anna.

\-------

A gentle shake to his shoulder woke him up. He opened his eyes slowly, looking into two concerned, bright blue irises. He thought for a moment that me must still be dreaming.

“I am so sorry to wake you Kristoff,” she said in a hurried whisper. “But I noticed it was almost time for you to go to work and I didn’t know if you had an alarm set or…” She shrugged slightly.

“Oh,” he said, slowly getting up, feeling the weight of Anna’s gaze. “Thank you.”

He followed her to the door and watched as she slid on her shoes. She opened it and turned around. Kristoff thought she was going to say ‘thanks, can you stop by after work and see if my carpet is dry.’ Instead she gave him a small anxiety attack.

“I am so sorry I woke you. Maybe I should have just let you rest? I feel bad knowing that you don’t sleep well. But jobs are important, right?” She shrugged again, clearly not sure of what she was trying to say and obviously fretting over having chosen to wake him.

Kristoff wasn’t sure what to say either. It just dawned on him in that moment that he had actually managed to fall back asleep after the witching hour. What he wasn’t willing to do in that moment, was think about what it could possibly mean. Or more importantly, why it had happened.

Anna suddenly looked fidgety, like she had expected him to respond. He struggled to think of what to say when she started talking again. 

“I’d like to talk to you about it. Only if you want to, of course. Maybe it would be better to get it off your chest, so to speak?”

“I… I’ve already tried talking to professionals…” his hand went to the back of his neck, trying to rub out the tension he felt. This was the last thing he wanted to talk about with her.

“Maybe you just need to talk to a friend,” she said and gave him the most heartbreaking smile of empathy he’d ever seen. “Think about it anyway. And I’ll see you tomorrow for breakfast, okay?”

“What about the carpet?” Despite his current inner turmoil, he could not seem to forget that her house was in disarray. Probably his previous life coming back to haunt him again.

“You’ve done so much for me, Kristoff. Let’s just tackle it when you’re off this weekend. That is, if you still don’t mind helping me?”

Kristoff shook his head quickly. “Of course I don’t mind! I would never mind helping you with anything, Anna.”

Her cheeks turned pink and Kristoff felt like he overstepped a certain boundary he had set for himself. Damn his stupid, tired mind. “If it’s all the same,” he continued, needing to get past the sudden awkwardness, “I’d still rather stop by after work to put the carpet back. It won’t take long then I’ll be out of your hair.”

She nodded looking at him in that intense way that made him impossibly nervous. He wondered suddenly what she was seeing when she looked at him so carefully.

“Okay, but only if you feel like it. If you want to leave it for another day, it’s totally fine.”

“Okay.”

She hesitated a second before she went up to him, tiptoed up, and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. She turned without another glance and walked across the street to her house. He stared after her absentmindedly running a hand over where her lips had touched his skin. 

He was suddenly afraid of what her kiss meant. 

He packed himself a quick lunch and paced the kitchen as he ate a piece of dry toast, needing to get some of his anxious energy out of his system. He looked at the clock and realized he was indeed almost out of time. A second later he heard the bus make its way up the street. He grabbed his wallet and stuffed it in his pocket before he took off down his walk to make sure he didn’t miss his ride to work.

\-------

After Kristoff got off work, he knocked on Anna’s door despite how rattled his mind was. She greeted him like nothing had happened, making him question everything even more. 

Since the underlay was dry, Kristoff rolled her carpet back and used his kicker to put it back under the baseboards. Anna put her fan away and prattled around the kitchen while Kristoff worked. He was careful not to watch her even though he wanted to. He was getting the feeling that her eyes were on him several times but he feared actually meeting her gaze. Every time she looked at him now it seemed to be analytical. 

When he was finished, he grabbed his fan and his other tools and set them on her front steps to take back to his place. He turned to tell Anna to have a good night when she was already approaching him.

“Thank you, Kristoff. Can you stay for dinner? I’m making tacos.”

“Um, it’s okay Anna. I think I’ll just head home.”

“Oh... Okay.”

Kristoff hated seeing the light leave her eyes when she was disappointed. Why did she want to spend so much time with him anyway? Maybe she thought of him as a charity case. Someone she could try and help. There was no helping him though. She shouldn’t waste her time. He might have to tell her that.

Still, she looked so sad that he was turning her down. She was probably just lonely. Hadn’t she mentioned the other day at breakfast that her sister, the only family she had left, lived overseas? What the hell was his problem? Why would he assume such a thing about her when all she had shown him was genuine kindness? He could barely use his mind for how tired he was and this was how he was using it? Assuming things about her with his paranoia… God, he needed help.

“Well,” he said, knowing that he needed to say something to make her happy again. He hated seeing her any other way. “If you are looking for company, sure, I could stay. I just didn’t want to impose.”

Her eyes lit up with her smile and his heart fluttered, then she grabbed his hand and dragged him into her kitchen. 

\-------

Kristoff pulled off his clothes and slid in between his sheets, suddenly remembering that Anna had been in his bed a short while ago. He rolled over and pushed his nose into his pillow, inhaling deeply. It smelled floral and wonderful. It smelled like Anna.

He was glad he had stayed for dinner. She rewarded him by smiling at him all night as they talked while they ate her delicious tacos. 

Then when he finally did tell her that he needed to head home to get to bed, she bid him goodnight with a warm hug and another sweet kiss on his cheek. Easily the greatest feeling in his world now.

He smiled in the dark, feeling himself drift off to sleep immediately. His last conscious thought, was of Anna’s beautiful scent in his bed and how he hoped it would never fade.

*****

**2:37 a.m.**

Kristoff yawned, waking up slowly. 

He rolled onto his back and stared at his dark ceiling, thinking of nothing else than what had started to consume his thoughts. He wondered how Anna’s shift was going. She told him all about the sweet golden retriever with the tumour they just removed and how he was likely to pull through very nicely, then about a family who paid nearly four thousand dollars to fix their cat’s twisted bowel instead of putting him down and how she thought they were the most fabulous people she had ever met. 

Then he thought about how Anna had kissed his cheek again. He thought about how fantastic that felt. He thought about where her lips would feel even better…

He squashed the thought, not wanting his mind to go there, then meandered around his house like any other morning, waiting for the gentle knock at his door which had become the absolute favorite part of his day.

She was right on time as he followed her to his truck. He was almost sad that the belt for her car would be in tomorrow and she wouldn’t need his truck anymore. He knew she would still offer to take him out for breakfast, but he supposed he just like the idea of her using his things. That was a little strange, wasn’t it? Then again, he’d always been a little strange.

After they ordered, Anna asked him what he wanted to talk about. Kristoff shrugged. He could see that she wanted him to talk about his troubles, he just wasn’t ready to do that yet. He didn’t know if he honestly ever would be. If he did however, he knew Anna would be the only one he would ever talk to about it.

Anna understood without saying another word and started talking about how she applied for the day shift that came with weekends off and couldn’t wait to hear back on it. Kristoff hoped she would get it. It might put a kibosh on their breakfast’s, but then he might have a better chance to see her more often. That was, if she wanted to see him? He thought so. Still, his mind had to question and doubt everything.

“So, what about you Kristoff? Have you always been in maintenance?”

Kristoff blinked, realizing he had accidentally tuned her out for the last minute. What brought this up? She knew by now that he didn’t really like talking about himself, didn’t she?

“Uh, no. I, um… used to have a couple businesses.”

“Really? What did you do?”

Kristoff rubbed a hand across his suddenly tense neck. How could he tell her things without talking too much about his problem? Stick to the basics he supposed. 

“Out of high school I got hired with a restoration place. I figured out pretty quick that if I invested in my own equipment that I could start my own company, so that’s what I did.”

“What does a restoration company do?”

“Fix damage after leaks or fires. That kind of thing.”

Anna smiled. “Like a dishwasher that doesn’t drain?”

Kristoff couldn’t help but smile back. “Exactly.”

“That’s why you have all those tools then? The fan and the big vacuum? From you company?”

Kristoff nodded. “After I sold the company, I kept a few things. Just in case.”

“What did you do after you sold your company?”

Kristoff knew this was where the conversation was headed. He just wasn’t prepared to deal the emotions that still came to him when he thought of that time in his life. It was something he still hadn’t fully gotten over.

“If you don’t want to talk…” Anna offered gently.

“No, it’s okay,” Kristoff sighed. As much as he didn’t want to talk about it, there was a part of him that was screaming to open up to her. He suddenly understood that it was likely only a matter of time before he told her everything. He thought he’d able to keep it in better. Now he knew that wasn’t going to happen. 

“After I sold my company, I opened up my own custom auto shop. That was always my dream. It was why I worked so hard out of high school.

“I started out with basic mechanical maintenance service while I built my first car. A hot rod. I put so much time and effort into that car that when it was finally finished, I gained some attention and people started hiring me to build hot rods for them. I was…” Kristoff smiled at the memory. “I was in heaven. It was my calling. I loved going to work every day.”

His smiled disappeared. “Then I started having some…” he swallowed, “issues.”

Anna stared at him with a knowing look. She understood right away that he wasn’t going to go into it any further.

Kristoff resumed his sob story, unable to meet her in the eyes anymore. “My…_ problem_, started interfering with my ability to do my job. My delivery times started falling behind. I had to turn projects away to catch up. Eventually, I had to give it up. I had to sell my shop and my car. I was barely able to keep my house until I was hired for this maintenance job. Back then the economy was in the tank and it was the only place out of hundreds that I applied to that called me back. Honestly, it takes all of my energy just to keep that job.”

Kristoff stared at the table feeling both a sense of relief for talking to someone about it, and a deep sadness to think about the life he had lost. Anna shifted on the other side of the table and her hand was suddenly on his forearm. 

“I’m so sorry, Kristoff,” she whispered.

Did it sound like she was trying not to cry? It certainly did, but he was unable to actually look at her to find out. The last thing in the world he wanted was to make her sad.

“It’s okay,” he said to the table, still looking at her comforting touch. “I do have a job, I have my house, and I can put food on my table. I’m… I’m okay. I’m good. I am thankful, actually, when I consider where I might be right now instead.”

Anna was silent for a long time, though her hand never left his arm. When Kristoff finally found the courage to look at her, she was simply waiting to see if he would talk more for soft and caring eyes. He wanted to. He had a sudden urge to tell her everything, when his phone started beeping from his pocket.

Anna removed her hand as Kristoff shifted to grab it. He knew what the alarm was for anyway. It was time to head back to catch his bus to work. If he was going to talk to her, it was going to have to be another time.


	6. Chapter 6

Kristoff found himself in her house again after work, smelling whatever delicious meal she had made for dinner. When she had dropped him back off at his house after breakfast, she had asked him to come over. Despite what his mind was telling him to do, he accepted. He was picking up her alternator belt during his lunch break and would be over there installing it anyway.

Anna did him a favor by not brining up the morning’s conversation. Even better, she didn’t ask him any personal questions at all. She talked more about her job and the book she was reading and some new recipes she wanted to try, while he put the new belt on her car. And that was just fine by Kristoff. He could listen to her talk forever. 

Dinner was quick. Afterwards Kristoff helped Anna do her dishes. She had to wait two more days before the appliance repair company could get out to take a look at her dishwasher and Kristoff wished he knew anything about appliances so that he could fix it for her instead.

He excused himself and bid her goodnight when the dishes were clean and put away. She followed him to the door as he looked forward to the kiss that she now placed on his cheek anytime they parted. He pulled her gently into his arms as she tiptoed up, only this time she placed her lips very close to the corner of his mouth and they stayed there.

It was only a small linger. Really something that would hardly be noticeable to anyone who knew it was just her friendly gesture. But this was Kristoff, and everything in his life now seemed to revolve around Anna. To him, it was very noticeable. 

When she pulled back from his face, her smile was the same as always. It was here eyes that were different. They were saying something to him that he simply could not understand. Then just as quick as he had seen it, it was gone, and she was bidding him goodnight.

He laid in bed for a time thinking about it. He wanted to get closer to her. Badly. Yet there was a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach that he was going to end up hurting her, or worse, that he was going to somehow ruin her life. 

*****

**3:00 a.m.**

Kristoff rolled over in bed, his mind foggy with sleep. He adjusted himself, making his body comfortable and sighed deeply, ready to fall back asleep. He could still smell Anna’s scent on his pillow and it made him smile. He snuggled himself deeper, sighing again with comfort as all his muscles relaxed.

That’s when he realized he had to pee. 

_Nope, you’re good. You don’t have to pee that bad. Just go back to sleep._

_…_

_Dammit, I have to pee._

“Fuck,” he drew out the word in a whisper and sat up. He glanced at the clock and paused as his eyes went wide.

It read two minutes after three.

He took a calming breath, trying not to think about it. He didn’t want to think about anything regarding the time. He didn’t want to think about how it was the first time in so very long that the clock started with a number besides two. He _certainly_ didn’t want to get hope. Hope was a dangerous beast to him, and he knew he had to squash the thought immediately. There was no way, _no way,_ that his curse was lifting. 

No way.

_Unless…_

“No!” he shouted to himself in his dark room and got up, stomping down to the bathroom to relieve himself. 

He had let hope into his heart once before and it had left him a defeated, shattered shell of a human. That was the first time it had ever crossed his mind to take the easy way out.

That had scared him. It absolutely terrified him and he vowed to himself never to get hopeful again, never let his feeling be controlled by chance ever again. There were too many factors, too many things wrong with him to think that anything could ever be as happy for him as it once was.

He was broken and there was no way to fix him. 

The bad feeling in his gut was back with a vengeance, making him feel ill. He knew that sooner or later he was going to have to distance himself from Anna. The last thing in the world he wanted to do was to break her too. He truly would not be able to live with himself if he took the light out of her eyes.

\-------

“So, you don’t know how long it’s been?”

Kristoff watched her put a bite of chocolate chip pancakes in her mouth, trying not to regret opening his mouth about his issues. Just a few hours ago he was telling himself he needed to distance himself to spare her. Now he was reeling her in deeper. What was wrong with him? Why was he doing this? Why couldn’t he stop himself?

“Not really, no,” he said slowly, still terrified of opening up - terrified of what it would mean for Anna if he did. “I guess I just… don’t really want to think about how long it’s really been.”

“Well, are we talking weeks? Months?”

He turned his eyes to the table, unable to answer.

“Years?” she whispered.

Kristoff nodded and suddenly her dainty hand was on his forearm again, squeezing it gently. He looked up to meet her sad eyes. 

“I am so sorry,” she said quietly.

He couldn’t stand the way she was looking at him. He was dragging her down with him and he had a terrible feeling about it. Still, it felt good to talk about it. It felt so amazing in fact, that he was going to keep talking despite his terror of how it would affect Anna.

He decided the best thing to start with would be to brush off how bad it really was, trying to lighten the mood a little. “Well, there are a lot of successful people that get by on four hours of sleep a night, right? I read somewhere that Gordon Ramsay guy only needs three, or something like that.”

“Yeah, but you’re not Gordon Ramsay.”

He blinked at her. Did she think he didn’t know that? It suddenly felt like a big mistake to talk about everything. God, why was his mind so fucked up by this? By her? He felt like he was going crazy. One minute it seemed like the thing he needed to do and the next it felt like the last thing he should be doing.

She smiled, relaxing him a little and quieting his rampant thoughts. “I just meant that you are you, and four hours of sleep a night is clearly not enough.”

“Does it really look that bad?” His shoulders slumped.

Anna cocked her head to the side while her gaze wandered over his face. “No, it doesn’t.”

“Then how come you can see it so clearly?”

She just started at him a second before she put her fork down. She pulled in a deep breath, let it out slowly, then spoke.

“I’ve seen it before. I’ve looked into the eyes of someone who was suffering from mental illness.”

“Is that what you think I have?”

She hesitated a second before she nodded, slowly. “My sister fell into a deep depression when we were teenagers. She had many issues sleeping. She got to the point where you are. I saw the same tired, haunted look in her eyes that I do in yours.”

“What happened to her?”

“She got better, with help.”

“You don’t think I’ve tried to get help?”

She shook her head. “No, I think you probably have, but-“

“I’ve tried everything, Anna. _Everything!_ There is nothing that can help me. Nothing!” He turned his eyes to his plate, pushing his eggs around with his fork. He wasn’t hungry anymore.

“Well I’m here to be your friend, and I think that it is going to help.”

“Oh yeah? Why is that?” He asked, meeting her eyes again.

“Because today, you look a little less tired.”

\-------

To say his mind was reeling, was the understatement of his life. 

All day long he could not concentrate on his work. He was essentially useless and his boss sent him home and told him to _‘get some rest and don’t be a useless fuck for tomorrow’_. He almost missed the bus stop by his house he was so deep in thought.

Anna had struck a nerve with him that morning. A huge nerve. As soon as she told him he looked like he’d slept better, it all came out of him in an exhausting parade of words. His fears, the terror of what he thought it was doing to his mind, his desperate wish to break the curse…

Despite the fact that he could see Anna was obviously trying not to cry as he opened up to her, and the fact that he was still scared to death that this was going to hurt her in some way, he couldn’t stop. When he was done, he felt as though he himself could cry with the sheer feeling of relief.

Anna held his hands the whole time, making it easier. Even though his long ramble made him late for work, he didn’t care in the slightest. Likely another reason his boss was pissed and sent him home early.

As soon as he got in his house he went to his desk and searched it for paper. He couldn’t find any lined stuff, but he had a stack of printer paper and that was just going to have to do. He found a pen and started to write. He wrote about how he felt when he first realized he had insomnia and how frustrating it was to be unable to pinpoint a reason why it had started. He wrote about how he felt when he was tired of dealing with it. He wrote about his regret for how his life had shifted and he lost his dream job. He wrote about his loneliness, his fears, and he wrote about his hopes. He wrote so hard and fast that his hand cramped up several times. He shook it impatiently, needing to get his thoughts out.

He had let Anna into his heart and she had brought hope along with her, despite how long he hadn’t allowed himself to feel it. But it was there now and he prayed that it would never go away.

Anna was still asleep in her house, but he could not wait for when she woke up. She said she would come over when she did, shortly after Kristoff got home each day, and they would talk some more before she had to head off to work.

But Kristoff couldn’t wait that long. He had to get it all out. He had to keep going. He filled pages and pages of his messy half-printing, half-cursive penmanship, until he realized that the blue was starting to fade and that he had written all the ink out of the pen.


	7. Chapter 7

As soon as Anna stepped in his house, Kristoff pulled her into a hug. She hugged him back tightly, humming happily as Kristoff sighed long and slow.

“I can’t thank you enough, Anna, for helping me deal with this. I think… I mean, I don’t want to get my hopes up _too_ much, but I think this is really going to help me.”

“Good,” she said, still pressing her cheek against his chest. He could have held her forever if she hadn’t pushed gently out of his arms. 

Kristoff had offered to make her dinner, which meant order a pizza for delivery. He had next to nothing in his fridge and with his mind a compete mess, he forgot to grab anything on the way home. She obviously didn’t mind. Her eyes were absolutely twinkling as Kristoff showed her with excitement the pages he had written. 

She never asked to read them, perhaps thinking that it was more of a therapeutic exercise for him and not to be shared. It was like a journal or diary entry in a way and he understood her not asking, but he would have let her read them if she had.

Then he confessed everything to her. When his problem started out of the blue, how he had brushed it off thinking that it would soon pass, and how it continued to torment him until he had come to think of it as nothing else but a curse. 

When he got to the part of the story of why he wouldn’t let hope into his life ever again, it was the only time he faltered. He didn’t know with his feelings for Anna, if telling her about an ex was a good thing or a bad thing. Still, it was a little too late for him to stop. He had to get it out. 

He told Anna about the woman who had come into his life. He had not been seeking companionship due to his sleeping issues, but she had sought him out having noticed him on the bus and made a point to strike up a conversation with him. He had been standoffish to her in the beginning, yet that didn’t seem to deter her. She wore him down and one day he found himself inviting her out for dinner. 

Things progressed quickly and it never seemed bothered her that he had terrible sleeping habits. He had come to care for her. He had even felt like he had been sleeping a little better. Not longer because he was always awake sometime around two, but perhaps more deeply? He wasn’t quite sure, but he had begun to think that not being so lonely was the key to getting his life right again, and he had actually started to think things were going to turn around for him… given time. 

He had started to hope.

Then one day she wasn’t on the bus. Or the next day. He didn’t see or hear from her for two weeks until she finally responded to one of his numerous texts and calls.

_I’m in love with someone else. Don’t contact me again._

That was it. No further explanation. He realized she must have been seeing someone else when she was with him. Maybe it was the entire time, he had no idea. Why had she been so adamant on trying to talk to him anyway? Was he a game to her - some sort of conquest? Was she trying to get back at someone? 

Or maybe she had simply been turned away by his weirdness. Maybe the fact that he could never sleep through the night bothered her way more than she let on. 

He would never know.

Regardless of the reason, it hurt him. While he wasn’t in love with her, he had wanted to be. He had thought that she might eventually move in with him. Maybe someday down the line they would get married. It wasn’t as if he was aching for it to happen, he had just thought that they might end up that way. He thought eventually he would find his happiness again with someone else in his life.

But the sleepless nights would simply not end. 

And now he was as alone as ever.

It sent him into a deep downward spiral that he had barely been able to get himself out of. The lowest of the low parts of his life. A pit of despair that had almost swallowed him. 

Anna looked deeply disturbed to hear about that part. Kristoff moved on quickly, telling her how he had fought his way out of that dark mindset and come to accept his curse and learn to live with it. Then he told Anna about what a positive affect she had had on his life ever since he first walked across the street to help her with her car.

She was so quiet through the last of his admissions that he just had to keep talking until he was finished.

In the end he thanked her, profusely, while she blushed crimson and told him that she did _nothing_ but that she was _happy for him_. He had to admit that he was actually happy for himself too. The state that his mind had been in for what felt like an eternity, was finally crumbling to dust, and he could not express how elated he was.

When he was finally finished talking, Anna opened her mouth to say something else when the alarm on her phone went off. She blinked at him a moment, letting her phone keep beeping away, looking like she was contemplating saying whatever she had started to say anyway.

Instead however, she closed her mouth pulled her phone from her pocket and silenced the alarm. They had set the alarms on their phones for work a while back when they both realized they had been so caught in conversation that they found themselves often running late. It never seemed to affect what they were discussing since they fell easily back into it as soon as they saw each other again.

This time though, Kristoff knew that her moment had passed for whatever she had been about to say.

She didn’t let him think too long about it before she was hugging him, kissing his cheek and telling him to have a good night and to get a bunch of rest as if nothing was amiss.

Then she was out the door with a smile over her shoulder and another wave, to get ready for work before he could do anything else but thank her one more time. He stared through his open door for a moment before he finally snapped back to himself and closed it slowly.

What was she about to say to him? Was it something about her feelings towards him? An admission? Maybe something as simple as telling him she hoped he would get better quickly. Perhaps it was just to invite him for dinner again?

Kristoff shook his head and headed down to his bedroom. He stripped naked and slid between the covers, forcing the thoughts from his mind. If he thought about what Anna was going to say to him for one more second, he would drive himself insane.

*****

**3:33 a.m.**

Kristoff’s eyes opened slowly. He knew it was early, but it wasn’t _as_ early. He turned his head to glance at the clock, a slow smile spreading across his face.

It was working. Anna was helping. 

The curse was lifting.

Kristoff stayed in the comfort of his bed for a couple more minutes, smiling into the darkness, before he got up and began to get ready. He looked through the sparse selection in his closet and realized that he was going to need some new clothes soon. A lot of his t-shirts had holes forming under the arm pits and his jeans were all worn on the bottom.

Then he went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and noticed that his hair was getting a little long and was in need of another trim. Funny how these things had never stood out to him before. Actually, it wasn’t funny, really. It was a testament to how his mind had been for so many years.

When he was dressed, clean-shaven and sipping on a cup of black coffee, he leaned against the counter in his kitchen and waited for Anna.

Even though she didn’t say she was going to pick him up for breakfast again, she knocked on his door exactly at five-thirty. Their standing breakfast date.

Well no, it wasn’t a date. Kristoff had to remind himself of that. It was two friendly neighbours treating themselves out to a cheap meal. That was it. 

On the drive over, Anna told Kristoff all about the little interview she had with the manager about the day shift she had applied for and how she felt it went well. Then when they were sitting at their usual table at Phil’s diner, she asked Kristoff if there was anything else that he wanted to talk about, anything at all, she was ready to listen.

There was, of course there was, but he had done so much talking about himself lately that he didn’t feel like hearing himself this morning. Instead he implored Anna to tell him more about her interview, and her day, and anything else that went on.

She smiled and shrugged. “It was a fairly normal shift after the interview,” she said, sipping on her coffee. “Kind of a slow night. It was just me and Samantha since Judy was off sick again, oh wait, did I tell you about what happened to Judy?! No, I didn’t, did I? How could I forget?

“Anyway, she was out gardening before work the other day when she got stung by a bee, and-”

Kristoff smiled. Just like that he was going to get rewarded with one of her animated stories. She was something else to watch when she regaled him with a story. Her eyes of course, her facial features, how she talked with her hands…

Kristoff thought she was absolutely gorgeous.

He engaged her in conversation until his phone was beeping and it was time for Anna to take him home so he could get to work. 

When she parked in her own driveway and got out, she rounded the car right away to give him a goodbye hug and kiss on the cheek and ask him to come over for dinner when he was done work.

He accepted without hesitation. He was now powerless not to.

\-------

Anna hurled herself into his arms as soon as Kristoff knocked on her door.

He caught her and pulled her into a tight hug, hoping he knew the reason that she looked so elated.

“I got it, Kristoff! I got the day shift I applied for!” she squealed into his ear. “The manager literally just called me!”

“That’s great, Anna!” Kristoff said, allowing himself to get emotional. He was incredibly happy for her.

“This calls for a celebration!” she said when she released his neck and he set her back on her feet. “Let’s go out for dinner!”

“Okay,” Kristoff beamed at her, “but it’s my treat this time.”

“No way, you paid for breakfast the last three times. This is on me.”

“Anna, please, let me treat you since it’s your celebration.”

“Nope!” she chirped and danced to her kitchen to grab her purse. “Don’t fight me on this Kristoff,” she called from the other room. “You won’t win.”

Kristoff chuckled, knowing she was right.

\-------

He realized over dinner that he was deeply in love with Anna. He didn’t even seem to mind that he knew the feeling probably wasn’t reciprocated. No matter what, as long as he could see Anna happy, that was all that was important. It had become his top priority. 

That night he pleasured himself again to the thought of making love to her. If he ever had the chance to be with her in real life, he knew he would be able to die happy. 

He tucked himself into bed a hair after nine and found sleep right away, dreaming of a future that no longer looked desperate and bleak. 

****

**3:52 a.m.**

Kristoff woke up feeling more rested than he had in so long, that it brought the sting of tears to his eyes. He rolled over, letting the feeling wash over him. He didn’t think he would be able to go back to sleep, but for once that thought didn’t crush his spirit.

He went into his spare room where his desk was and removed all the things he had piled on his treadmill. He found his earphones in the desk drawer and put on some music while he started walking. When his heart started pumping, he took up a slow jog.

He kept the pace as long as he could. It had been a long time since he’d exercised and he was a little embarrassed how quickly he got winded. But he didn’t allow it to bother him too much. He knew it was going to be a slow road to get back to living.

After his jog he had a long hot shower, helpless to think about his hands all over Anna’s naked body. He had never been so horny in his entire life. He gave in again and found a very satisfying release. 

After he was dressed and sipping on coffee, the knock he was waiting for came. 

They went to breakfast and Kristoff ordered something other than bacon, eggs and toast. He ordered French Toast - no powdered sugar - sausage, and a bowl of fruit. Anna smiled at him and ordered then same, except for “why not give me his share of powdered sugar, please.”

Anna talked excitedly how her day shift was going to start sooner than she thought. They found someone to take Anna’s night shift immediately and all she had to do was give them a little bit of training, take Friday and the weekend off to adjust her sleep schedule, then she would officially have a Monday to Friday, nine to five job, just like Kristoff did.

Kristoff took in her happiness like it was the worlds most addicting drug. 

It was even hard to feel disappointed when she explained that she’d be working earlier the next few nights for her training, unable to see each other after Kristoff was off work. He was just so relieved that she was happy, he couldn’t even feel down about not getting to spend as much time with her. Plus, they were still able to go for breakfast.

When she dropped him off for the bus, she gave him a very deliberate longer kiss on the cheek. Although she had never kissed him so close to the lips since that one time, he still enjoyed the longer her lips were touching his skin.


	8. Chapter 8

**3:49 a.m. **

Kristoff stirred in his bed. He rolled over to his other side and drifted right back into sleep.

He dreamed of Anna. He always seemed to dream of her now. 

When he stirred again, about forty minutes later, he woke with the image of her with flowers in her hair. He forgot what exactly the setting of the dream was, but her beauty stayed with him as he rolled over and looked at the clock. 

4:30 a.m.

He grinned. He couldn’t help it. He felt rested. And happy. 

Actually, he felt amazing. 

He got up and jumped on the treadmill, knowing he needed to hustle to get a workout and a shower in before Anna knocked at his door.

An hour later and he was ready and waiting. As soon as he saw her car pull up on the street in front of his house, he was locking the door and heading to her. She smiled at him from behind the wheel and said “Good Morning, Kristoff,” when he hopped in her passenger seat. 

\-------

With Anna training again and being unable to see him, Kristoff used his spare time after work to get himself some much needed groceries. When he had taken stock of his fridge and pantry, he realized how bad he had let it get. He didn’t even have the basic staples like eggs and flour. All he seemed to have on hand was bread, butter, and those pathetic frozen microwavable meals.

He spent over an hour walking around the small grocery store by his house, filling his cart to the brim. It didn’t even bother him when the cashier told him how much the bill was – easily more than he had spent on himself in the past six months – or that he was going to have to call a cab because all the bags he had. All he cared about was that he now had the means to make Anna a proper dinner.

He had loved to cook for himself when he was happy. It was easily one of his favorite hobbies outside of work. He was happy to get back into it, despite how rusty he probably was.

He got more joy than he thought he would, putting everything away when he got home. After that was done and he had made himself a basic pan-fried chicken breast with sautéed beans and carrots for dinner, he planned to go through and give his house a thorough cleaning. It was tidy but he couldn’t remember the last time he’d vacuumed. It was certainly overdue.

When he collapsed into bed that night at eight, exhausted from his efforts, he was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

*****

**5:00 a.m.**

Kristoff’s alarm woke him up. When he set it the night before he wasn’t sure if he would need it. Now he was glad he did.

He knew setting it that It wouldn’t give him enough time to get in a workout before Anna picked him up for breakfast, but that didn’t bother him one bit. It didn’t really matter anyway. It was her last night shift and after her longer weekend they would soon be working the same hours. He could figure out a proper workout schedule later.

When he hopped in her car as she pulled up, she was beaming. All the way to the diner she told him how excited she was to finally be finished working nights and how her friends and co-workers offered to take her out for a bit of a celebration ‘girls-night-out’ kind of thing that night.

Kristoff was excited for her even if deep down he was a little disappointed he wouldn’t be able to spend time with her for another evening. He quickly reminded himself that things in his life were finally getting back on track and to not let such a small thing get to him. It was just that he loved being around her so much, he felt a little restless when she wasn’t around.

She dropped him off after breakfast and kissed his cheek like usual, then he was off to work, wondering what he was going to do to occupy another evening without Anna.

*****

**2:05 a.m.**

Kristoff blinked at the clock, trying to understand what was going on. He had been getting better, hadn’t he? He was starting to sleep better. He felt better. His mind was working better again. He was starting to get back that person that he used to be.

So why the hell was he staring at a clock that read the numbers he dreaded more than anything else to see in the middle of the night. He was tired, scared, confused, and having trouble getting his thoughts in order.

Then his phone made the sound that there was a voicemail. As soon as he grabbed it from the nightstand, he realized that he had just missed a call from Anna. That was what had woken him, even though it hadn’t woken him quick enough to hear it ring.

As soon as the message started, he felt a cold pang of dread in his gut.

_“Hey, this is Samantha, Anna’s friend. She’s kind of plastered out of her mind and needs someone to come pick her up. She told me to try some guy named Chris and there’s only a Kristoff in her phone so I’m hoping I have the right person. Uh, call her phone back I guess, or I’ll just keep trying her contacts.”_

Kristoff called back right away and the woman answered on the first ring. He got all the details of what happened. After he was assured that Anna was okay, he said he’d be right there to get her. He quickly pulled on some clothes, stuffed his wallet and his keys in his pocket, and took off for his truck. 

He was just opening the drivers side door when he realized what he was doing. He had made a promise, a vow to himself, to never get behind the wheel of a vehicle if he was still having issues sleeping. 

He felt he was getting better and he knew he was getting more rest that he had in a long, long time. But this was still dangerous. His mind was just not sharp enough to trust himself, especially with it being just past two in the morning. What if something happened on his way to get Anna? What if something happened on the way back and he caused Anna harm… or worse? It was a bone chilling thought that sent a shiver all the way down his spine.

But Anna was drunk and she had asked someone to call Kristoff to come and get her. 

Anna needed him.

He got into his truck and started it without another hesitation.

\-------

He had to push his way through the crowd, looking for Anna and the group of girls she was out with in the over-crowded bar. He felt his skin crawl to be touched by so many bodies at once. The only saving grace was that he could see over almost all the heads in the room. He spotted Anna right away.

She was slumped against the wall in a back booth, surrounded by women laughing and talking loudly over the ear-splitting music. They all looked up at him as his shadow loomed over the table. All except Anna, who was barely able to keep her eyes open. 

One woman, Samantha he assumed since she seemed to know why he was there, made the ladies move for him to grab Anna from the booth. He was just about to pull her to standing when another one of the drunk girls piped up.

“But she didn’t pay her share of the tab.”

Kristoff looked over at who was talking, a tall brunette who was swaying on her feet. He wasn’t one to judge a book by it’s cover, but she appeared like just the type of person to order a lobster dinner when everyone else had salads then demand the bill be split evenly. He tired not to sneer at her as he reached into his wallet and grabbed a wad of crisp twenties. 

“Here,” he said, handing them to Samantha since she seemed to be the only one with a clear head. “For Anna’s share.”

Samantha fanned the bills out in her hand. “This is too much,” she shouted at him.

“Don’t care,” he muttered as he hoisted Anna up to standing and curled his arm around her back and under her arm pit. 

He turned to leave without another glance back, pulling Anna to his side to support her wobbly steps. 

As soon as he was outside, free from the merciless crowd, he stopped and slipped an arm under her legs, cradling her against his chest as he carried her to his truck. He put her gently in the passenger seat and carefully buckled her up, making sure her head wasn’t leaning where the door would hit her when he shut it.

He hopped into his seat and started the truck. He was backing out of the stall when she started to mumble.

“Wherr you takin me?”

“Home,” he said, pulling out of the parking lot. It was not a short drive. He cracked the window to let the cool air onto his face, wanting to stay alert.

“I don’t wanna go home,” she slurred, lolling her head over to look at him with her eyes still closed.

“Okay then. Where would you like to go?” he asked, curious.

“Take me to Kris,” she said, eyes still closed.

“Kris? Kris who?”

“Toff,” she mumbled. “Kris-toff. M’neighbor. M’bess friend.”

He would have smiled had he not realized what a dangerous game he was playing. All he had to do was ask and he could discover how she really felt about him. If she was attracted to him… if she had romantic feelings towards him… 

But it was a cheat to do that. He would be tricking her. He would never, ever do that.

“Don’t worry Anna, I’m here.”

When she didn’t respond he looked over to see that she’d passed out with her head slumped back against the seat.

\-------

Her eyes opened slowly with drunk-heavy lids when he opened the passenger door and grabbed her before she could fall out.

“Wherr am I?” she muttered as Kristoff pulled her into his arms again.

“Kristoff’s house,” he smiled at her. Her confused eyes did not register who she was looking at.

He was about halfway down the hall when she gagged. He rushed her into the bathroom and set her on the floor a second before she threw up in the toilet. Kristoff held her hair and rubbed her back as she retched. 

It didn’t bother him. There was nothing that she could do that would disgust him. 

When she was done, he helped her clean up, wrapping her shivering body in his bathrobe that hung on the back of the door. He found one of the unopened toothbrushes he’d gotten from the dentist the last time he was there and helped her brush her teeth. Then he made her drink a big glass of water and filled it again for the night before he led her down the hallway to his room.

He was snugging the covers up around her when she finally seemed to come back to herself.

“Kristoff?”

“Hey,” he smiled, still leaning over.

“I’m glad they brought me here,” her eyes slid shut.

“I brought you here,” he whispered. “Now go to sleep.”

She shook her head. “Please, don’t leave me.”

“Okay,” he said, sitting on the edge of the bed to wait until she passed out again.

“No,” she frowned, eyes still closed. “Please hold me.”

“Anna,” he hesitated. She was drunk and probably didn’t know what she wanted.

Her face twisted and she started to cry. Kristoff panicked and did the only thing he could think to calm her. He got up and rounded the bed to slide under the covers beside her. Anna didn’t give him a chance to press his front to her back like he was intending, she was already snuggling against him as he laid down, forcing him to settle on his back. She was still crying but she was quieted quickly. Before he knew what was happening, she was softly snoring away.

He laid still, looking up at the ceiling for a long time in thought. Anna breathing against him, her warmth at the side of his body, her beautiful face, her smell, even if it was tainted by a faint hint of booze. Was it too much to hope that she’d want to be with him? Maybe. Regardless, he was happy. Happy that she was in his arms. Happy that she considered him her best friend, if nothing else.

What would the future hold? He had no idea. For once in his life, he let all his worry and his doubt and his torment, quiet. He let it all go to savor the moment of closeness with the person he loved more than anything in the world. Soon after he fell asleep with a gentle smile on his face.

*****

Everything was colors and noise, weaving in and out.   
_Dreamland._

But he wasn’t dreaming.  
_Or was he?_

He felt the wonderful warmth leave his side. Then nothing. He heard soft footsteps back into the room, the warmth return, then nothing.

Sometime later a phone was ringing. Then nothing.

Anna saying something and then nothing.

The bed shifting, light gracing his closed lids, then… nothing.

It went on for some time. Or did it? He had no idea. He was lost somewhere between conscious thought and nonsense. Nothing was making sense. Figuring it out seemed too difficult. Instead there was just acceptance.

It wasn’t until the light behind his lids started to fade, that the parts that seemed like they should make sense, actually started to.

He heard soft footfalls on the floor. A cool palm on his forehead. A gentle brush of fingers against his cheeks. Soft humming that went with the careful steps of whoever walked out of the room. Then peace and quiet again for one last time before something filled his nostrils that smelled so good that his eyes finally felt like they weren’t too heavy to open. 

The room was dim, as it should be. Probably almost time for him to wake up and get to work. His mind slowly played over his night and he realized that he’d fallen asleep with Anna beside him. She was gone now, however.

And yet, that smell. The faint sound of someone moving around his kitchen. Perhaps she’d woken and made herself something to eat before she went home. Likely. Probable. 

He glanced at the clock.

7:07

_Shit, I missed my bus!_

He got out of bed. Dragged himself, was more like it. His body felt heavy with sleep but he managed to take to his feet and wander down the hall to the bathroom.

He had to piss like a mother-fucker. He wondered why the hell he had so much in his bladder. It seemed to go on forever until he was finally released and he actually felt physically lighter. He was about to brush his teeth when there was a knock.

“Kristoff?” Anna’s muffled voice came from the other side of the door.

He blinked at himself in the mirror. “Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah. I think so. Just late for work.”

Silence, until she finally spoke. “Um, just come to the kitchen when you’re done so we can talk.”

He hated looking at himself in that moment. What could she want to talk about? She sounded so solemn. Probably something he did. Maybe he was talking in his sleep? Who the hell knew what he would have said? Perhaps he expressed his love for her?

That thought stopped his mind. He had so far been wilfully ignoring the fact that even though he was in love with Anna, he was okay if she didn’t love him back. His fear was that if he told her, that she wouldn’t understand. He was terrified that she would only think he was in love with the _idea_ of her, since he was sleeping better with her in his life.

But it wasn’t that. _It wasn’t!_ How could he tell her and have her believe him? Not only that, what would she say? Would she tell him she just wanted to be friends? Probably. Would she never want to see him again? He dreaded a world in which he didn’t have Anna. Would she actually say that she loved him too? No, no there was no way she would say that. He was her best friend. She said so.

It was too much to think on with the disorientation he was feeling. Instead, he finished cleaning his teeth and walked down to the kitchen where he could hear her moving around. He stopped at the entrance only to watch her pace the floor for a second. When she turned around to pace the other way, she stopped dead in her tracks as soon as her eyes met his.

The expression on her face was one he could not gauge and he suddenly had a very bad feeling.

The he was absolutely floored when her face broke out into a smile and her eyes lit up in that way that gave him goosebumps and ignited something deep within his soul.

“Kristoff,” She approached him quickly, stopping herself just before he thought that she was going to pull him into a hug. She looked up into his eyes, scanning every inch of his face as he wondered what the hell was going on.

Then her hand was on the side of his face, cupping his cheek in her palm.

“You are rested,” she whispered.

His hand came up and pressed against the back of hers as his eyes closed. There was something about her touch that was intoxicating. He felt a tingly and warm, and happy, and calm, and so many more things that he could not put the sensation into exact words.

When he slowly opened his eyes, there were tears in hers.

“Anna, what’s wrong?” He still had no idea what was going on. In the back of his mind he knew he had to get to work. Yet there was something off. Something… weird.

It slowly clicked into place. The smell of whatever Anna was cooking, savory and rich - a dinner. The way the light was darker than when he normally caught the bus in the morning. The shine in Anna’s eyes, not at all bloodshot from having woken up being hungover a few short hours ago.

How could he have missed it? How could it even be possible? His heart started to beat faster in his chest at the implications of what he thought was going on.

“How long…” he swallowed, “how long was I asleep?”

“All day,” Anna answered immediately, eyes glimmering with emotion. “Kristoff, you slept all day long. I have never seen you so peaceful. You looked…” her voice tapered off as she shook her head with a wide smile.

“All day?” It was hard to wrap his mind around it still, even as Anna was telling him. “All day? After I brought you home from the bar?”

“Yes. Fourteen hours ago.”

“That can’t be…” but he thought about everything that he heard when he was in dreamland.

_‘Sorry, Kristoff is really sick today, I’m afraid he can’t come in’. _A beat. ‘_No, I’m his neighbor. He’s okay, just a bad flu. He needs to rest. I’m sure he’ll be good to go for Monday.’_

Soft words in his ear. ‘_Are you okay Kristoff? I think you’re okay, but you’re starting to worry me just a little.’ _A cool palm to his forehead. ‘_Sleep well. You need this.’_

_‘I’m going to make some dinner now, so I am going to come in soon and wake you up to eat it okay?’ _Beautiful humming as she left the room.

Anna was nodding her head. “All day, Kristoff. You slept all day. I didn’t have the heart to wake you for work. I hope it’s okay that I told them you were sick?”

He pulled in a breath as his heart clenched. His emotion came from nowhere as a soft sob escaped his lips. He reached out for her and she went to him. They hugged and cried together for what felt like hours even thought it was only minutes. His mind was still trying to reboot, trying to comprehend, yet he understood in that moment that Anna had saved him. No matter how she felt about him, she was his rock.   
His solace.   
His very _life._

She had broken his curse.


	9. Chapter 9

Anna smiled at him throughout the dinner she had made, that beautiful brightness never leaving her eyes. While they ate, she had filled him in on the events while he slept.

She’d been woken from her drunk slumber by Kristoff’s boss calling and asking where he was. She had covered for him, then crawled back into bed and passed out again. When she woke later, she needed food. She had rummaged around his kitchen and made herself some bacon and some cheese and tomato on toast. After that she snuggled back against his side to get some more sleep.

When she woke again in the early afternoon she prattled around, taking a nice long how shower, checking on him and making sure he was okay, before she grabbed his keys and dashed home to get herself a change of clothes and some things to stay with Kristoff for the weekend, just in case. She confessed to him that as soon as she got back, she ran into his room to make sure he was okay. She told him she was relieved that he was fine but also still a little worried that he was still sleeping.

But she knew his past and so she had let him sleep. Then she made them dinner as quiet as she could until she heard him walk down the hall and into the bathroom. 

“And, I can’t thank you enough for coming to get my drunk ass last night,” she was saying as she shoved a bite of meatloaf into her mouth. “I’m such a lightweight I knew I shouldn’t have had any shots. God, I’m stupid.”

“You are not stupid.” It was a gut reaction. He did not mean for it to come out so harsh. Her expression softened after a second and she gave him a tiny smile before turning her eyes to her meal.

A long silence stretched between them. The more Kristoff looked at her, the more troubled she seemed to be getting as she stared at the food on her plate that she had stopped eating. He wanted to ask her what was wrong, but he was afraid. All he seemed to be able to do was keep eating the meal she had made and wait. Another moment later and she finally looked up at him, a very uneasy expression on her face.

“Can I ask you something, Kristoff?”

“Sure,” he said, after swallowing a bite of the mashed potatoes with some difficulty. He did not like the way she was looking at him.

“Do you think you sleep better now because of me?”

Kristoff froze. His heart started beating faster in his chest. He wasn’t prepared to have this conversation yet. He didn’t think it would come up so soon. 

“Be honest with me, please,” she added, staring into his soul with those eyes of hers.

“I… um,” he didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t ready to explain it, he barely understood it himself.

“I need to know,” her voice came out in a waiver and Kristoff realized she was holding back tears. 

“Anna, what… what’s wrong?” He was shocked at his new development, and terrified by what it meant.

“Is that why you want to spend so much time with me?” she sniffed. “Because you see me as some sort of good luck charm that helps you sleep?”

Kristoff felt stabbed in the heart. There was no anger in her tone, only crushing sadness. How could she not know? How could she not see that she meant the world to him? Was he that bad at showing it? Was he that bad at showing affection? He must be for her to think that way.

She was crying softly with her head down and her hands covering her face. Kristoff got up and kneeled beside her chair, gently pulling her towards him and moving her hands so he could look into her eyes.

“Anna, you are everything to me.”

“I’m so sorry,” she babbled. “I just, I mean… I know you probably don’t think that, I know you are not that type of person, but… but… how else can… I…”

“Shhhhh,” he pulled her off the chair and into his arms as he sat back on his heels. “No need to explain. I understand, Anna.”

“How,” she said against the fabric of his t-shit on his shoulder. “How can you understand how I am feeling?”

He paused, taking in a deep breath, readying himself to tell her the truth. “Because,” he whispered. “I was worried that was exactly what you would think when I tried to explain how I felt about you.”

Anna pushed out of his arms and looked at him. “What do you mean?”

“Anna, I…” Kristoff smiled. He was ready to give her his heart. He only hoped that she would take it. He breathed in and let it out slowly. “Anna, I have fallen in love with you. I live for your happiness. I live for the way you look at me with your bright eyes. Even if…” he swallowed and steadied himself. “Even if you don’t feel the same way, I know that you have saved me. More than you even realize. If you wanted to part ways, I truly believe I would still be able to find rest, just knowing that I got a chance to be your friend for a little while. You are my solace, Anna. I could never repay you what you’ve given back to me.”

Her eyes had welled up again as Kristoff spoke. When he was done, she let out a sob and crushed herself to him, hugging him as tight as she ever had. 

“I was hoping,” she choked out, “I was hoping you felt the same way I felt.” The last word dissolved into her sobs. 

Kristoff’s eyes went wide, realizing what she meant by that. He held her while his heart galloped away in his chest. He thought be might even pass out with how hard it was beating. He had no idea how he would feel when he learned the truth about Anna’s feelings. Probably because she didn’t think that she could possibly-

“I love you too, Kristoff!” she said between a sob. “I love you more than anything.”

Kristoff held her tighter when his own tears came. He tried to reign it in but it was too painful. He let go and cried with relief. They both gripped each other tighter, chests heaving against one another until they were finally able calm themselves down. It was Anna who pulled from their embrace first and started to kiss him, her last tears still streaming down her cheeks.

He tasted her salty tears as he kissed her back with a desperation that was foreign to him. She parted her lips and Kristoff took advantage, sliding his tongue into her warm mouth. She returned the favor with equal vigor and Kristoff knew they needed to get to his bed.

He clambered to his feet with Anna wrapped around him, never faltering in kissing her. He knew his house like the back of his hand and navigated blindly to his bedroom without issue. He stopped at the edge of the bed and leaned over with Anna still wrapped around him. With her back laid gently on the mattress, he finally broke their kiss.

“I want to make love to you, Anna,” he whispered. 

“I _need_ you to make love to me, Kristoff,” she whispered back then pulled him down to kiss her again.

Kristoff leaned into her, hands running down her sides to take her pants off. She wiggled out of her jeans and underwear as he slid them off then reached up and took off her shirt. Kristoff did the same and then leaned back down to kiss her again, unable to go too long without needing to feel her mouth against his. He wanted to kiss her forever.

Anna moved underneath him to unhook her bra then tossed it off the side of the bed before she broke their kiss.

“Take off your pants,” she said in a seductively low voice.

Kristoff did as he was told, taking great delight in the way she was looking at him with pure lust. His ache was so deep that he knew he needed to bring her pleasure first. He wasn’t going to be able to satisfy her the way he wanted to. Not yet. He was too desperate.

He put his hands on the side of her knees and gently pushed her legs apart as he leaned over the edge of the bed. He wasn’t about to waste any time when he reminded himself to be tender. His mind was so clouded by yearning that he almost forgot what it meant to make love to someone.

He kissed the inside of her thigh, slowly moving upward as she started to moan softly. Then he went to her other thigh and repeated the action. When he got close to her desire, she moaned a long _“please.”_

He dragged his tongue up her centre, mind crazed with the taste of her. This was beyond anything he had ever dreamed. He repeated the action twice before Anna whined ‘please’ again and he understood that her need was as great as his.

He took her clit into his mouth and she cried out with pleasure. Her fingers wound their way into his hair and it was not long before she was panting and writhing under him. A moment later and she came against his mouth as she squeezed his head between her thighs and cried out again.

She was barely finished when he shifted himself above her, desperate to feel her. She looked up at him with raw hunger and reached down to guide him. His cock slid into her slowly and he let out his own low and desperate groan.

Anna looked up at him, holding his gaze with adoration as he began a quick rhythm. He wanted to look into her eyes as he made love to her, but the desire to kiss her again took over and he dipped his face to hers to capture her lips.

He was able to keep up the pace longer than he expected due to the amount of time it had been, but knew he was quickly getting to the end of his current stamina. He felt bad that he wasn’t going to be able to give Anna another orgasm when she suddenly gasped as she broke the kiss. Feeling the pulse of her centre against his cock was more than enough to send him over the edge. He let out a sound of pleasure that matched Anna’s as they held each other in a tight embrace, bodies pulsing together.

Kristoff took a moment to orient himself. The experience of making love to Anna and his newfound peace in life, was absolutely mind-blowing. He wanted to cry, he wanted to shout out with joy, he wanted to make love to her again as soon as he was able…

Anna grabbed his face and kissed him tenderly. When she pulled away, she looked up at him with eyes as bright as he had ever seen them even through the darkness in the room.

“No matter what Kristoff, I am yours. I’ve fallen for you so deeply… I just need you to know that it doesn’t matter… it doesn’t matter what the future holds… I… I-”

Anna shook her head as she pinched her bottom lip in her mouth as if she was trying not to cry. Kristoff realized that’s exactly what she was doing and it pushed him in the same emotional direction. He swallowed with a painful lump in his throat.

“No matter what Kristoff, that love is always going to be there.” She cleared her throat and blinked the tears from her eyes. “I need you to know that. I am always going to be here for you, no matter what happens.”

A tear escaped Kristoff’s eye to hear such words from the person he loved more than life. Just knowing that he would have Anna with him in life, even if he had trouble sleeping again, gave him the greatest sense of calm he had ever experienced. He slowly eased himself out of her and shifted his hip to the mattress so that he could still look down into her eyes. He knew what he was feeling but his mind still came up blank.

“I don’t know what to say Anna, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how to put into words the way I am feeling right now.”

Anna smiled radiantly before he could finish and put her palm on his cheek. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “I know.”

Kristoff nodded and took a moment to admire her radiant beauty before he bent down and kissed her softly. When he pulled back, she looked at him with hooded eyes that he knew were also sleepy. She’d been up all day looking after him while he had gotten the rest he had needed for so long.

“Goodnight, Anna,” he whispered and kissed her softly again before settling himself against her.

“Goodnight, Kristoff,” she sighed in the most content way he had ever heard anyone sigh.

He watched her fall asleep. Then he watched her sleep, until she stirred and rolled away from him. He watched her back for a while after, her side rising and falling slowly with deep sleeping breaths. 

Then he shifted quietly from the bed to clean up the kitchen. He had just slept fourteen hours - he wasn’t tired in the slightest.

Which he realized, was a very forgotten feeling.

\-------

After the food was put away and the kitchen was clean, Kristoff found himself wandering back down the hall to where the love of his life was sleeping. He could think of a ton of things that he could be doing with his energy, but laying next to Anna, even if he wasn’t sleeping, won out.

He pulled off his clothes and slipped into the bed on the opposite side he normally slept on. If that was Anna’s preferred side to sleep on, he would happily give it up to her. 

He wrapped his arm around Anna and gently pulled her back to his front. She stirred a little, snuggling herself into him and letting out a content sigh. Soon she was sleeping again in his embrace.

Kristoff closed his eyes and let his mind wander. Surprisingly he did not think about his now very promising future. He thought about the street at 4 in the morning and the first time he looked into Anna’s bright eyes. He thought about their many breakfasts and all the great conversations they had. He thought about every moment he’d spent with her since he met her, just laying there and holding her.

Hours later he finally started to doze off. He didn’t feel tired exactly, but too comfortable to do anything else but see if he could nap. By the faintest of light in the room he knew dawn wasn’t far away anyhow. Anna would wake soon and he would wake with her and they could spend the day doing whatever they felt like.

Kristoff smiled to himself, eyes still closed and snuggled closer to Anna, ready drift off into sleep once more.


	10. Epilogue

**2:02 am**

Kristoff yawned and sat up. He felt the weight of exhaustion like a heavy blanket draped over his shoulders. 

He was awake at around eleven at night and two in the morning, without fail. More often than not, he was awake at four as well, and other times he was able to remain asleep until five. He had had so many sleepless nights in the past month that he felt like a zombie again.

A very happy zombie, but a zombie nonetheless. 

“I’ll get him,” Anna mumbled beside him, although she didn’t move.

“Go back so sleep, Anna, I’ve got him this time. You’ve been up with him twice already.”

“Hmmm, thanks Kristoff.”

Kristoff leaned over and kissed her cheek, then got out of bed and pulled on a t-shirt. He retrieved a bottle of milk that Anna had pumped during the day and set it to warm up in hot water before he went back down the hall to the baby’s room.

“Hi little man,” Kristoff whispered as he leaned over the crib and gently lifted his infant son from it. He went about changing his diaper and grabbing a few burp clothes before getting the milk and settling himself in a chair that he used to lament sitting in at two in the morning. Now he smiled to himself, still in awe of how wonderful life could truly be.

Even though him and Anna were tired beyond anything they had ever experienced – well Anna was for sure – they would not trade a minute of sleep for the beautiful little boy they had created. It had only been a month, but Anna was already talking about when the timing would be right to have baby number two. If missing out on sleep scared Kristoff, he might suggest waiting a good amount of time, but as it was, these were the happiest sleepless nights in his entire life.

Him and Anna both stole away and napped as often as they could. Mostly on weekends when the baby went down for a nap. Anna did the same during the day, so when Kristoff came home, he would grab a quick nap, help Anna make a quick dinner, then they would enjoy their new family life until bedtime. They were making it work even if there were always dirty dishes in the sink and the house hadn’t been dusted or vacuumed in weeks. That in fact, had been one of the best pieces of advice they had received – _‘enjoy your little one, the housework can wait.’_

Kristoff knew as soon as Milo started sleeping through the night that their normal lives would resume. He did not wish that time to come sooner than it needed, however. He was absolutely loving living in the moment and would enjoy it as long as he possibly could.

It was hardly any time before Milo was asleep again. Kristoff gently laid him back in his crib and snuggled back in his own bed beside Anna. She shifted in her sleep and curled herself next to him. Despite being tired, Kristoff could not get back to sleep. He hadn’t thought about the troubles he used to have in so many years, but tonight they were very much in the forefront of his mind.

He let the thoughts come. It was Saturday and he could nap later if he needed to. It was probably a good thing to finally sort through all the emotions he had been brushing off. The last two years had certainly been a whirlwind. 

Anna had moved into his house a couple days after they confessed that they loved each other. It was a spur of the moment thing. Anna mentioned to Kristoff that she was going to spend a little time after her first couple day shifts, unpacking a few more boxes that she’d been neglecting. Kristoff had looked at her and without hesitation, suggested leaving them packed for when they moved in together. Anna’s eyes lit up before he even realized what he said, saving him from worrying about making a mistake or her thinking it was moving too fast. No, there was no mistake. Anna was delighted to live with him and he was delighted to live with her. Five minutes later they had both decided to move into Kristoff’s place since the house had one extra bedroom and a slightly more private back yard, instead of finding a new house. They could always move later if they wanted or needed something bigger. 

Two weeks later and Kristoff was sleeping eight hours a night, every night, with Anna at his side. Even when she went to visit her sister for a week – something she had planned well before meeting Kristoff – he still slept just as well. It certainly affirmed what he believed, that Anna had been the key to breaking his curse no matter what the future held back then. Even if they had remained only friends, or simply parted ways, she had given him his life back. 

The night Anna got home after her visit with her sister, Kristoff listened to her talk about what a wonderful time she had over dinner as her eyes sparkled at him, and he came to a very abrupt realization. As soon as she was finished her story, he slid from his chair, got down on one knee beside her, and asked her to marry him. He felt a little silly that he didn’t have a ring, but Anna squashed that doubt very quickly by throwing herself into his arms and giggling ‘yes’ over and over as she planted kisses all over his face.

The next day they went down a jewelry store and Anna picked out a ring. It was a hell of a lot more fun and less stressful than Kristoff trying to figure out what Anna would like on his own. As it turned out, the ring she picked is exactly what he would have if it were him trying to choose it anyway.

They planned a very quick backyard wedding as there was only one window of opportunity for Anna’s sister to be able to fly in and attend. Neither of them had wanted anything grander anyway. Kristoff had his new best buddy Sven be his best man and Anna had her sister as the maid of honor. There was no one else but the four of them standing up at the alter with the Justice of the Peace. It was simple and quick, the way Kristoff and Anna had both wanted it.

The reception that followed was incredibly joyous. The party went rather late but none of the neighbours seemed to be bothered by their respectful level of noise. Perhaps it was because Kristoff had been as quiet as a mouse for so many years. Maybe his life was being watched from a darkened living room sometimes. If it was him, he had to admit that he would certainly feel happy that someone so broken could be fixed and finally find some peace. 

A month later they were finally able to book some corresponding time off work and they took their honeymoon. It was two wonderful weeks spent exploring Scotland. Neither of them had wanted a beach detitanation where there was noting to do but lounge by a pool. They had the time of their lives exploring the country and vowed they would return with their kids someday.

It wasn’t until the last night of their honeymoon that Anna asked Kristoff during dinner if he ever wanted to open up an auto shop again. Kristoff looked into his wine as he swirled it around the glass and thought about it. He had been so content with everything in his life it hadn’t crossed his mind to entertain the option of going back to his dream job. In that moment though it did strike a but of a chord with him. He told Anna he would absolutely peruse it, but in time. For the moment, he was more than happy to live his current life. His newfound vigor gave him a huge boost of work ethic for his maintenance job that did not go unnoticed. He was soon given a supervisory roll and a raise to go along with it. Kristoff loved working on cars, but the hours were sometimes very long when things didn’t go as planned on a build, which was more often than not. For now, he was happy with his nine to five. It was consistent and it allowed him to spend time with his beautiful little family as much as possible. No, there was nothing he was actually willing to change at the moment. His life had truly never been so perfect.

Someday he would rebuild to be able to do the work he adored doing, but it was no longer his driving dream. His new passion in life was his family and the future that he was going to build with Anna, no matter what he did for a living.

The baby monitor suddenly filled with the sounds of shrill crying. 

“Again?” Anna moaned. “Why is he so restless tonight?”

Kristoff looked at the clock. It was ten minutes to four. “Maybe he’s going through a bit of a growth spurt,” he said and leaned over to kiss Anna on the cheek. “I’m still awake, I got this.”

“You okay?” Anna asked quietly.

Kristoff smiled in the dark. “I’m absolutely perfect, Anna. You rest. I’ll get him back down and then we’ll see how late he’ll let us sleep in.”

“I love you, Kristoff,” Anna mumbled, already drifting off.

“I love you too, Anna,” Kristoff whispered and slipped his t-shirt back over his head.

He repeated the routine and was soon settled in his chair with his son, watching the street. 

Mr. Douglas walked by with his little dog.

The first bus rumbled down the street.

The young couple jogged past, still smiling after two years.

Kristoff smiled at them all, sitting in his darkened living room. He thought that everything in his life had changed, but it seemed that some things were still the same. 

For the time being, anyway. 


End file.
